Protests have escalated in Arab and Islamic countries against French President Emmanuel Macron's attack on the Prophet Muhammad - may blessings and peace be upon him - and official and popular calls have increased for a boycott of French goods in response to Macron's position, in return, the latter said that he would not back down after supporting the publication of cartoons offensive to the Holy Prophet.

In Libya, the Supreme Council of State (an official advisory body) called on the Al-Wefaq government to cancel the French deal to buy Total's stake in Libya Marathon Oil in the Waha Oil Company, which belongs to the National Oil Corporation in Libya.

In a statement, the Supreme Council urged the Council of Ministers to assume its religious, legal and moral responsibilities and respond to insulting the noble Prophet, by stopping economic dealings with French companies, and the Council also called on the judiciary to quickly decide on the appeal submitted by the Council against the Total deal.

The French president said last Wednesday that his country would not abandon the cartoons (offensive to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace), which sparked a wave of anger throughout the Islamic world, and launched large campaigns to boycott French goods, as well as official positions from many Arab and Islamic countries. Condemning what is happening in France of insulting to the symbols of Islam.

Protests

In Tunisia, the city of Tataouine, in the southeast of the country, witnessed a march yesterday to denounce the offensive cartoons of the Messenger Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace.

The Tataouine march is the first to be organized in Tunisia after the killing of a French teacher against the backdrop of the cartoons of the Holy Prophet, and Tunisian activists on social media launched a campaign calling for a boycott of French goods.

In Palestine, on Sunday, demonstrators burned pictures of the French President during stands in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem to condemn his statements insulting to Islam, and demonstrators raised banners condemning the insult of the Prophet of Islam and provoking the feelings of Muslims.

In Yemen, dozens of citizens organized a protest stand on Sunday in the southwestern city of Taiz to denounce Macron's insults to Islam and his Prophet, peace be upon him, and the participants in the stand burned the French flag and pictures of Macron.

And in Syria, Anadolu Agency reported that dozens of people demonstrated yesterday in the northern cities of Jarablus and Tal Abyad to protest against the French president's recent statements against Islam, and the protesters carried banners reading "Islam is the religion of peace", "There is no place for terrorism" and "I sacrifice myself, O Messenger of God." And the "boycott of French products".

In Istanbul, hundreds of Arab residents in Turkey took to the streets to demonstrate in front of a hotel in Aksaray, denouncing the cartoons of the Messenger and objecting to Macron's statements against Islam, and Bayezid Square in central Istanbul also witnessed a demonstration condemning the publication of the offensive cartoons, in which members of various associations and civil organizations participated.

Positions

Yesterday, Kuwait called on France to stop insulting religions and prophets in official speeches.

Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Ahmed Nasser Al-Muhammad Al-Sabah informed the French ambassador to his country, Anne Claire Le Jendre, of "the necessity of stopping offenses against all divine religions and the prophets, peace be upon them, in some official speeches."

For his part, Morocco condemned - yesterday, Sunday - the "persistence" in publishing cartoons offensive to Islam and the Messenger, denouncing these actions "which reflect the lack of maturity of the perpetrators."

A Foreign Ministry statement pointed out that "Morocco strongly condemns the persistence in publishing cartoons insulting to Islam and to the Prophet Muhammad, may blessings and peace be upon him."

And in Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan said - yesterday, Sunday - that the French president "attacked Islam" when he encouraged the display of cartoons that mock the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace.

Khan added on Twitter, "It is regrettable that President Macron chose to deliberately provoke Muslims, including his (Muslims) citizens, by encouraging the display of offensive cartoons targeting Islam and our Prophet, may blessings and peace be upon him,".

From Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeated his description of his French counterpart as a psychopath, and described his actions as fascism in response to Macron's statements that were deemed offensive to Islam, and came after the re-publication of caricatures offensive to the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, last Friday on the facades of a number of government buildings in France.

#Mohamed_peace be upon him_waslam # except_the Messenger_of_french_products


# boycotting_products_french_Meira


and Qatar Shopping Center on French TV đź‘Ť boycotting them # Tuna_Ma_Badina pic.twitter.com/D9H3ThPjTP

- Khalifa bin Ali Al Thani 🇶🇦 (@kalthani) October 25, 2020

Official condemnations were also issued by Jordan, Iran, Turkey, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Sheikh of Al-Azhar, and the Council of Senior Scholars in Saudi Arabia, all of which rejected France's insistence on publishing the offensive cartoons.

Boycott

Calls to boycott French goods gained momentum in Arab and Islamic countries, where calls for boycott and hashtags defending the Holy Prophet, may blessings and peace be upon him, spread very widely on social networking sites.

In Egypt, social media users mocked Macron, a list of French brands circulated, and bloggers called for a boycott.

An employee in a store in Kuwait raises French products from the shelves in response to Macron's statements (Anatolia)

In Kuwait, the Federation of Consumer Cooperative Societies announced a boycott of French products, and a number of commercial companies and e-sales services in Qatar decided to stop selling and marketing French products, and worked to remove them from their websites, in response to the Arab boycotts campaign for French goods and products.

In Tunisia, the independent representative in the People's Assembly (parliament) Yassin Ayari said that he would send a letter to President Qais Saeed requesting the cancellation of the Francophone summit scheduled in Tunisia next year, in protest against the French offense to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and contempt for the beliefs of Muslims.

Several hashtags of social media platforms in a number of Arab and Islamic countries topped Macron's statements, including “# Except God’s Messenger, O France,” “# Except God’s Messenger,” and “# Boycott of French Goods,” and a tag calling for a boycott of the French Carrefour supermarket took the center. The second most followed hashtag, yesterday, Sunday in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Nothing makes us hold back, ever.


We respect all differences in the spirit of peace.

We never accept hate speech and defend rational debate.

We will always stand by human dignity and universal values.

- Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) October 25, 2020

Macron

Commenting on the calls for a boycott of French goods, Macron said in a tweet to him in Arabic on Twitter that nothing makes him ever back down, and he respects all differences in the spirit of peace, and never accepts what he called the hate speech.

On the other hand, the French Foreign Ministry called for an immediate cessation of the boycott campaigns and described its advocates as an extremist minority, and a ministry statement referred to what it said were "calls aimed at distorting and exploiting Macron's statements with the aim of distorting the positions that Paris defends in favor of freedom of belief and expression and rejecting hatred."

The French Foreign Ministry added that it is preparing a diplomatic mobilization to explain its positions.